cape cod stripers

[ctom]

I know cbiegel is gonna jump on this...

heading up to the cape for a couple days, I've NEVER fished saltwater (shame, I even live in the exact town mentioned in This Is Fly for excellent striper fishing), and I'd like some tips on the time of day/best lures to use. Honestly, I don't know if I'll have the time/money to get out and get new lures, so do any of you know how a really big crank might fare? or one of the big silver/black X-Raps?

Here's pics of the big baits I'm armed with:

http://www.monstertackle.co.uk/images/products/Rapala_XRap_10_Silver2.jpg (mine has a dressed rear treble)

http://www.rapala.com/assets/images/products/colorbar/x-rap_shad_s.png

http://www.hal.hu/keptar_termekek/2521.jpg

I really don't have any big softbaits, unfortunately, maybe a few 5" SLUGOs, but i cant find those atm

[jwm]

Ive never done any striper fishing in the area, but I'd imagine that the sluggo's would work if you can find them. The rapalas look good too, but with those its more a matter of depth, and not knowing the structure youre going to be fishing might be difficult.

[ctom]

yeah, the only problem is they're just a bit small, but i do think we'll be fishing closer towards shore, so I'll definitely give them a try should they be found. My friend has a house up there and I think he fishes a good amount so he'll hopefully have some idea of the structure we'll be dealing with.

[jwm]

I think guys catch big ones using top water plugs too.

[cbiegel]

Sorry I wasn’t able to reply before your weekend. I’ve been out of town off and on for almost five weeks.

To at least help for next time; if you are fishing from shore the first lure you posted looks like the best bet to me depending on how long it is. The others would work from a boat in deeper water but I think you might hit bottom near shore and snag. The colors you showed are right on. Other colors would be anything that looks like herring, mackerel, eels, or squid.

My go-to lure for shore fishing for stripers is the Storm WildEye Swim Shad. I use 4” through 6”. I also like 7” and larger SLUGO’s. If you want to throw plugs I’d pick heaver plugs that will cast well and are around 6” and up.

[ctom]

Hahah we got skunked, that said, we were only up there for a little over 24 hours, and it was a bunch of 17 year old kids, so we didn't end up trying that hard for the fish, messing around on the boat apparently seemed the more enticing option. Hopefully I'll be able to go back up, or at least get another chance to fish for some stripers though.

[fishmando]

If yall were surf fishing I would recommend setting up 2 dead rods with clam on em and then have 2 spinners ready to go. One with an Ava 17 jig and the other with a needle fish wooden plug. These 2 lures are great for surf fishing for stripers.

I used both lures today but I had a slow day weaving in and out of bluefish. It seems the striped bass are primarily feeding early morning and late afternoon on an incoming tide or right as it turns to out going along structure, grass beds and drop offs. They are congregating on the bottom and occasionally feeding on injured fish on top.

If you don't fish a needle fish wooden plug for top water, I would keep a Zara Spook handy...

Other than that, I fish a 5 in. pink Fin-S plastic which produces a lot of fish this time of the year. And casting spoons work well.

Hope that helps for your next trip.